Tag
by someperson90000
Summary: When Daniel Percy finds evidence of a serial bombing, he finds himself solving the ultimate mystery while the dangerous bomber nicknamed "stevie" unleashes his wrath upon New York City.....
1. Chapter 1

Tag

Tag

By: Nick Sheufelt

1

Like usual, it was another quiet day in New York City. New York really isn't that bad when you look at it, it's just a city with a lot of small time crooks. If you take a stroll down 5th avenue, it's really quite peaceful. But of course, crooks are crooks, so we still needed police teams. Ever since the fall of the world trade center, the New York City Police Department has been put on red alert. My name is Daniel Percy, I'm a young forensic in Precinct 7, You know, just a little police office for neighborhood scumbags.

Every time something big happens, I'm always there. During the world trade center attack on 9/11, I was there determine what happened. Of course, I nailed it- a terrorist attack. Well, there hasn't been an attack like that since then, but you never know, big city, big possibilities. Today, I was on patrol in the lobby of the empire state building, you know, just in case there was a... "BOOM!". Bomb? Well you guessed right- there was a bomb up top. I heard that strange rumbling noise. About 110 floors up from the lobby, the empire state building was blowing out smoke. I knew what this meant- out with the officer, in with the "Sherlock Holmes figure it out yourself" scenario. We found 35 people dead, and 50 people injured, all in all, that was 85 victims of the bomb. 15 floors were blown apart by the bomb. 

It felt freaky being about 1,000 feet in the air on an un-secure building structure. I was busy snapping photos of the tragic incident. Since the top of the Empire state building was close to collapsing, all victims were evacuated in time and we were sent to do the dirty work. Luckily, the Fire Department declared it safe to walk on, otherwise I would be buried in rubble right now. Grace Milford, a forensic in training, came over to me. "Dan, you should see this" she whispered in my ear. She lead me into the room the bomb went off in. Surprisingly, the room was still intact. I went through bomb squad training, so I wasn't that surprised. But when I studied the walls, I became really surprised. The walls of the small office room were vandalized in red ink with the words "Stevie". 

The vandalized walls were puzzling enough, now the bomber had to throw me evidence from hell. I recovered shocking photos. These were photos of what appeared to be a full grown ram. It's head was all that was in the picture. The head was a dark brown. But this ram looked weird. It's eyes were yellow. Pure yellow. And the pupils were shrunken. It's teeth were gritted, appearing to be smirking at me. So a satanic sheep is the bomber, and people call me sane. But even more shocking evidence- I recovered a DVD in a case. On the front was written "watch it, your life WILL depend on it." I was surprised to see "will" in all capitals, but I knew what he meant, the bomber was about to make a broadcast. And yes, viewer discretion is advised,

2

Of course, people were concerned, so CNN and other large press stations, were asking for the rights of the video. I watched it originally, and it scared me half to death, I can't see why they would want to show it to the public. It was 7:00 pm, and everyone was tuning into channel 4. The newscaster came on T.V. "today," he began, "our very own empire state building was bombed on the last 15 floors. 35 people died from the ordeal, and maximum security has been placed and all visits are cancelled. A man confessed to the bomb on a DVD and has been requested to be aired live on national television tonight.

The newscaster continued, clearing his throat, "Here is the message left by the bomber, viewer discretion is advised." The screen went fuzzy. About 30 seconds later, an image began to appear. It was the ram head I recovered in the photographs. Those bright, screaming yellow eyes seemed to stare at me. A voice filled the screen. It was a deep raspy voice. "Hello New York" It began, "This message is on behalf of your lives. This isn't over yet. Expect more fear, expect more terror, expect more suffering. The only way out of this, is to solve the mystery. There is two sides to every story, written in blood, or written in ink. New York is playing a game of tag with me, and right now, your it!" 

The screen went fuzzy for a couple seconds and cut to a new image. This new face started laughing a high pitched hyena laugh like the joker. This face was scarred. He had two glass eyes, which made him blind, but his teeth were clean and seemed to grin at me. He had six tall liberty spikes. (The image was in black in white, so I couldn't identify their color). But most of all, those angry looking eyebrows made the complete psycho maniac. Now he didn't just sound like a hyena, he looked like one. The tape cut, and the newscaster came on with a blank expression. 

Solving the mystery... well this message was the first clue. People across the city were shocked. The mask still puzzled me, what did it mean? Who was the Mohawk figure? I don't know. But I would imagine this- they are both the same person, and they are way beyond anything I have tried to handle before. The only way to end it is to solve the mystery, and I only got one clue.

3

All schools in New York City were closed for today. Most people took time off of work, just to be safe. The police department could not back down. Everyone in the precinct was on full time detective duty. I spent my time in the empire state building recovering clues. I did discover that stevie is the name of the bomber and both the Mohawk man and the ram head were the same person. A weird piece of evidence I found was what appeared to be a mask. But an even more shocking discovery: It was a mask of Liam Hart- our top forensic. The thing that made this even more interesting was that Liam hasn't been in for days.

I returned the mask to the precinct for examination. Meanwhile, I looked over the video clip again to see if I could find any information out of it. The ram must have been a mask, and the Mohawk man was stevie's actual appearance, and because his image was to noticeable, he made a mask of Liam to disguise himself while going in to the state building. But what happened to Liam? Why hasn't he been at work for a week? I gathered nothing from my first clue. I tried finger prints, but it seemed stevie didn't exist, no records, no dental charts, no form of I.D. or anything.

Everyone was just staying at home hoping their homes won't be bombed. Now, the empire state building wasn't the only place that got bombed, 3 party stores were found completely destroyed. I went to each scene to recover the exact same thing- the walls with "stevie" written in red ink, photos of the ram head and a rubber mask of the store's owner. Where was Liam? I remember when I first came to the precint for training, Liam taught me everything he knew about forensics. He was such a nice guy, I would have hated him If he was stevie the bomber, but I didn't think that, I thought something worse.

So, stevie's game of tag began, and we were it. I always loved the game of tag as a kid, and stevie is giving a bad name, using it to confuse us and cause more suffering. Grace came over to me again. "sir, I think I've found something" said grace, "what is it?" I asked, "see for yourself." She led me outside, right at our doorstep, was a pile of bodies. "what the hell?" I said out loud. I recognized the bodies- they were the bloods, New York's most dangerous gang, and every last recruited member was stacked in front of this very precinct. Written on the street in front of us was "stevie" written in red ink. For his next trick, no bombs or weapons would be used, all he had to do was scare them to death.. 

4

Around 3:00, T.V. networks across the city were experiencing signal disturbances. I had no idea what was going on, someone must have been hacking the signal. I was watching the precinct's T.V., waiting for something to happen. The screen went fuzzy and something else started coming in. "what's this?" asked one of the officers. "I don't know" I replied. Everyone's eyes were trained on the T.V. screen. The image of a local bank appeared on the screen. Captions scrolled underneath the images. "Have you tried out my fireworks?" it read, "No? well let's see a little demonstration, shall we?" About 2 seconds later, the building on the screen imploded and started collapsing. The clip was on every T.V. channel in the city. An officer replied "It was probably a hoax" "It wasn't a hoax" I said "It was him." I ran outside. And sure enough, 2 blocks away, the only thing left of Steven and company's bank and trust was rubble, dust and corpses.


	2. Chapter 2

Hundreds of people entered the bank everyday, 30 floors of top quality staff and service, all destroyed

Hundreds of people entered the bank everyday, 30 floors of top quality staff and service, all destroyed. I took another body count- of the 156 people that entered , 87 people died, the rest were severely hurt and injured. The pressure was so much, I couldn't cope. I spent the remainder of my day snapping photos and recovering clues. Apart from the photos, mask and vandalism, I recovered a new piece of evidence- a bag full of boxes.

It was a long day, I would have to investigate the bag of boxes back at the office. My cell phone started ringing. "hello?" "hey, it's rob" Robert Fletcher was a paramedic and detective, kind of a weird job. "Yeah, what's up?" I asked rob "I found a new DVD, it's at the office if you want to go take a look at it." "ok" I replied. I stuffed the bag of boxes in the trunk of my car. I took off from the scene and drove feeling extremely tired. The good thing was the office was only 2 blocks away, so it wasn't such a painful drive. I reached the office. Before I could head home, I had to watch that video clip and analyze 

the bag of boxes, such a strange clue.

5

I was the only one in the office, everyone else either went home or was at the bank scene. The DVD was on the counter in the lobby. This time on the front, it said "help me". I ignored the message and inserted the disc into the player in my office. Once again, the ram headed stevie appeared. "keep your eye on the ball" said stevie. The tape cut and everything went fuzzy. I didn't gather much from that, I would have to look at it again tomorrow. It was now 3:00 am, and the only thing left to do was tackle the bag of boxes.

I tore open the first box, inside was a rubber mask of Liam, very similar to the one I found in the Empire State Building. Liam has almost been gone for 2 weeks. No one has heard from him or seen him. I set that aside for examination. In the next box, I found pictures of the empire state building on fire. I put those over by the mask. I the next box, I found a piece of rubble from the bank incident. Now, there was one box left.

This last box was strange. It was wrapped in tinfoil with a golden ribbon. There was a tag. It had my name on it. I listened for ticking, nothing. Whatever was in it was lightweight. I had a feeling this box was the answer to stevie's mystery. Something important was in this silver box, I had a feeling in my gut. I wasn't ready to open it, not yet. The contents are unknown, and I can't open it without getting more answers, and that's exactly what I did. I left the box in a locked cupboard where no one else could touch it. All I had to do was drive home, stop thinking about it, and everything would be okay. 


	3. Chapter 3

6

6

3:30, not the time I wanted to get home. My girlfriend, Ella was sleeping peacefully. I started a fresh pot of coffee for the morning and went back to bed. The box still puzzled me, I couldn't get to sleep. Some kind of light went off out side. It went off, and then turned on again. It went on and off for an hour. I finally fell asleep. The alarm clock went off at 6:30, 2 hours of sleep, ughh. The only thing keeping me awake was wondering what that light was last night and the contents of the box . I got to work at 7:00, still no Liam. This started worrying me, so I filed a missing person report. That left me as the top forensic, 25 year old Daniel Percy, head detective, it's quite a burden.

I looked over that DVD again, I discovered a hidden video, but all it really turned out to be was a voice recording of "Help Me" plus, I still tried to figure out what "keep your eye on the ball" meant as well. Was it a message from Liam? I was having a flash back at that moment. This was back in law school, I was Liam's assistant. "Remember" Liam began "when you see crime, you must first identify what you're dealing with before you make an arrest. Next, check to see what kind weapons the perpetrator has. It is then important to draw your weapon before moving into the crime, that's when you can catch them." Liam pointed to a man in black. "That guy looks suspicious, see what he is up to." The man walked into a small abandoned warehouse. Sure enough, I walked in on a drug sale. That was my first arrest "good job kid, you'll do great." The flashback ended. I knew what I was dealing with, and I knew what kind of weapons stevie had, but I wasn't ready to walk in and arrest him. 

Everyone missed Liam. No one found him yet. I observed the Liam mask, there was a tear on the side of the ear, just like the one in the empire state building. Why would this mysterious gift giver steal that same mask from the office, wrap it up, and leave it in the rubble? I had a feeling the box wasn't from stevie, but from someone else. The mask belonged to stevie. We found more mask in different bombings. Stevie was obviously using it as an act of disguise, like in those Mission Impossible episodes, were the main characters used mask that looked so realistic. The main character used it to get information, and then tore off the mask in front of the camera revealing the real man underneath. Stevie could use that to get away with anything. He could disguise himself as Santa Clause and give presents with bombs in them to children. That thought scared me, which gave me more reason to catch stevie and give him the chair.

He wasn't a crook, he was a terrorist, which is why I couldn't let him get away.


	4. Chapter 4

7

Liam was still alive, I could feel it. Before he disappeared, he was investigating a torture case. Both parents were murdered, their 12 year old son who the stranger who threatened to gauge his eyes out if he didn't tell him where their one million dollar fortune was hidden. That's all I had heard him say. I looked into that file. I found 2 murder weapons. The first one, was a standard knife. But the other one was just sick. It was a vice, which was squeezed onto the head. In front were two drills, when the crank was cranked, the drills would rotate closer to the eyes. He used this as a method of torture. I examined the drills, they had blood on them.

I didn't have time to look further into the torture case, Now, I had to focus on the ultimate mystery. I tried his appearance- Liberty spikes, I discovered were red. The sides of his head were shaved. Two glass eyes, making him look like a hyena. His teeth, grinning in the form of a smirk. His face was severely scarred. His eyebrows were cocked, giving him the half crazy, half angry look. Now for the ram head mask. Two shocking yellow eyes with shrunken, black pupils, gritting teeth. The ram had two large horns on the side of it's head. It's nostrils were small. It's fur was a very dark brown.

No killer we have ever tried to track had such a scary appearance. It was straight out of a horror movie, only it was real this time. The problem with being a police officer is sometimes you have to face scary people like this, you have to be brave enough to catch them. Maybe Liam was investigating this guy and he got caught in action. What was that light? What was in the box? Who was stevie? All answers come in good time. My thoughts were now flooded with the torture device, how evil it was, the blood on the drills, just thinking about it gave me the chills.

Some officers were still sticking their noses in the bank rubble. I went their today. I found more evidence. This time it was a burned reel of film. It wasn't burned in the bombing, someone deliberately burnt the tapes before the bombing. Obvious work of the thief. I returned to the precinct to observe the tapes. I suddenly heard a tapping sound, like somebody nailing into the wall. I quickly darted outside. I looked up at the wall. Grace came over "what is it?" she asked curiously "that son of a bitch..." I said quietly. She looked up, and screamed loudly. Everyone else ran out. Up on the wall, Vincent Pryer, A famous serial killer who was already in prison, was dead, and nailed to the wall.

And sure enough, "Stevie" was written on the wall in red ink. Everyone went inside, some people started making accusations and snapping photos. I searched the pockets, looking for what I expected to find, photos of the ram headed stevie, and a mask, a new mask, a mask of me.

8

I used the mask and writings to prove to the other officers from other departments that saw "Me" nailing Vincent to the wall that it wasn't me. All crime started to stop, prisons were provided with maximum security to the limits, ruining escape plans for prisoners (who would probably want to stay in prison rather than be nailed to the wall by a crazy ram head!). As for me, I started a autopsy on Vincent's body. He was dead before he was nailed to the wall. The prison that held him found a mask disguised as a prison guard. Stevie disguised himself, told Vincent he was transferring prisons. Stevie then murdered him in secrecy, and nailed him to the wall disguised as me, ripped off the mask, stuffed it in Vincent's pockets and ran. First it was bombings, now he is fighting crime other than his own. I guess that means stevie does not like competition.

In the middle of the autopsy, I heard a strange rumbling noise, a familiar noise. I ran outside. I ran around 3 blocks until I found what I was looking for. The prison Vincent came from started crashing down...

Will be continued later...


End file.
